Health Care Bill

I know I haven't posted in MONTHS. Sorry. I have found that with Obama in office I am just not as upset about politics. I am shocked to read that Obama has lost some popularity in 'polls'. I don't see how anyone could be upset with him, unless they are racist scum like South Carolina Re-pub Joe Wilson. Dirtbag.
Recently I have been thinking about the whole Heath Care Bill and just why the Re-pubs are so against it. I mean, in general the righties are Americans who want America to prosper and to have less taxes. I was having a hard time coming to terms why they would want to kill a bill that would ultimately decrease the cost of health care, hospital bills and the 'cost' to society. Until I realized this: If the Democrats pass this bill and it starts to really work like it should... the righties are screwed for the next 3-4 elections. Especially the people who voted down the bill. They are backed into a corner. They are damned if they vote for it and they are damned if they don't. Even if they were thinking big picture of how this would be good for their constituents, they still have to worry about their own seats in Congress and the Senate. And further up the chain: the presidency. Their best hope is that it doesn't pass, and if it does, that it doesn't work the way it should. This is why we should appeal to all of our republican friends to let them know the pros of the bill. For starters: It means that people without health care insurance won't be using the ER as a primary care facility (which costs the country MILLIONS and is forcing some hospitals to not provide the care they want because they cannot afford to). The second thing to remind re-pubs is that a public option doesn't mean you have to give up your private option, it just means people without insurance will have access to it. It's like private and public schools. If you can afford a better school, you can go to private school. So if you can afford better health insurance... you can buy it.

My letter to President Obama for EFFECTIVE health insurance reform

I've had this in the works for some time.

Well, it's been on my mind for a long time...many years, actually. I've ping-ponged it around enough.

Eventually it would manifest itself. It was simply a matter of timing.

The time is now.

So now, this last weekend, I put something together and mailed it off to the White House, addressed to the 44th President of the United States.

I've also written my two Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, in addition to Ted Kennedy, to thank them for their efforts.

It didn't end there.

I've written my representative in the House, Republican Dave Reichert, and cc'd copies of that letter to House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner of the 8th District of Ohio, as well as Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky...in hopes (probably in vain) that my family's story will have some effect.

All the letters are nearly identical, with the initial and ending paragraphs differing slightly...the one to Republicans is more about urging bipartisan support.

It will be interesting to see where this all goes. It's a bit of a protracted letter, and I'm sure there's some out there that are more concise, so I'm not expecting it to necessarily be in the "A Group" to appear before eyes such as Obama's...but if it gets before the right person, and hits home, I'm hoping it has great possibilities of effect.

We shall see...here's the text from the letter.

August 24, 2009

President Barack Obama, 44^th President of the United States

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Re: My family’s story with regard to the need for EFFECTIVE health insurance reform

Dear President Obama:

I write you today with a heavy heart—and hope—in the push for effective legislation to reform our health insurance system so that it will function in a way that does not rob covered working families of their golden years. Unfortunately, my family—along with many other American families—has direct experience with the failures of the current system; while acting responsibly with full health coverage.

You are the first U.S. President I have ever written to. I’m currently 40, and a technical writer with a background in city planning…and a 3^rd generation only child like my mother and her father before her. My folks were born during the Great Depression, and the practice of fiscal conservatism was ingrained in them at a young age. They developed a jack-of-all-trades skill set; my mother’s background in teaching, nursing, & administration, and my father’s in civil engineering & international sales helped them build a successful manufacturer’s rep business after working for various employers in the 1960s and 70s. In the 1980s they converted the basement of our Seattle area house into an office, and their dynamic skills shined bright as they put passion, time, and diligence into the business.

I recall my father insisting that he wear a button-down shirt and tie before embarking on his commute of twelve stairs into our basement office. He never deviated from that rule once, as it helped get his head right for the workday. While it may seem like a small act, it’s a testament to his work ethic. The business, the xxx, was very successful going into the 1990s…there was every indication my folks were on their way to achieving their retirement dreams through hard work.

Then tragedy hit the family. In June of 1993 my father (57 at the time, fit, and physically active with an impeccable bill of health) suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that snuck up on him; things were fine one minute as we were having Sunday dinner, and then after a rush to the hospital he was in the middle of brain surgery nine hours later. Luckily he survived, but not without some damage to his speech center, right side, and other effects from the trauma. Over the course of the next couple of years my father endured a total of 3 brain surgeries, along with ICU stays, protracted in-patient hospital stays, long stretches of therapy, and a smorgasbord of medications. His speech therapy continues to this day.

As sole proprietors, my parent’s insurance premiums to Regents Blue Shield were approximately $1,500 per month—in 1993…it was the best coverage they could get at the time from their menu of options. Yet, Regents refused coverage for decisions made by the hospital in the use of certain specialists, they went after every possible loophole, and bird-dogged every charge associated with my father’s illness. As if being a small family dealing with this tragedy wasn’t enough, the costs (in the range of 100K) nearly bankrupted my folks and triggered a domino effect of slow financial decline (when you factor in the loss of income from my father’s inability to work) that forces my mother to continue working in other capacities today—in her 70s. Needless to say, the toll of everything accelerated their aging significantly, to the effect that my involvement in a caretaking role—again, as the only child—is happening much sooner than I expected.

This scenario involving my family is unconscionable. The behavior and games played by their insurance company were despicable. I can’t believe that my parents—who were responsible with finances, worked diligently to make a life and future for themselves, and carried full coverage at the time of an illness—could suddenly become victims and essentially be robbed of their golden years.

If working families like mine—who have coverage and act responsibly—are being victimized like this, then obviously our health insurance system is not only broken, but rigged with merciless pitfalls. In the reform efforts taking place at this time, it is imperative that the final product have teeth in it that will protect working families with meaningful coverage; especially those in that vulnerable age bracket from 50–65, and in doomsday scenarios such as the unpreventable one that presented my father’s illness. I see legislation that’s any less effective as simply adding to an already imploding house of cards.

We all deserve to pursue the American Dream built on our own will and efforts; one that won’t be torpedoed by the health insurance machinations and its complex web of cloaked tiger traps. My parents were on track for a solid retirement before having the rug yanked from under their feet by such devices. They deserved better. This is why I write to you today…so that other families don’t experience the horrors with health insurance that mine went through. As a small business owner (I included a couple cards for you) I’ve followed the example my parents set, and needless to say I am concerned about my own coverage when the cards are on the table (in a situation similar to my father’s, heaven forbid) and scenarios to that effect that could wreck my family’s financial future.

Thank you Mr. President for reading this…and for standing firm on your vision of health insurance reform that’s effective and furthers the efforts of many others before you. I appreciate your continuing efforts and personal sacrifices you have made in the interest of fixing the broken pieces of America—like the issues I speak to here. Let’s further perfect our Union with EFFECTIVE health insurance reform.

Yours truly and respectfully,

Sweva (...FYI, I signed it with my "other" name)

Washington State Obama Delegate for the 41^st Legislative District 2008 Democratic Caucus

Obama for America campaign fundraiser of approximately $2,000

Cc: Ms. Kathleen Sebelius, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

Makes my skin crawl

I agreed with most of this letter. Yes, the GOP needs to find themselves if they want to be competitive in the upcoming elections. But after the damage of Reaganomics and the Bush-Cheney regime, I'm happy having a few years reprieve to try to repair some damage and bring our country back as a world leader. We have real problems facing us and having to fight partisanship isn't going to help.


But after reading that op-ed I was left with a funny taste in my mouth. It wasn't anything I could really point to but a general righteousness. When the Douglas writes, "So what can the party do? Two things: Reclaim the principles of honor, decency and morality, and connect with the extremely broad base of Americans who embrace those attributes." It's like he has completely forgotten the first two paragraphs talking about the sleezy Republican leaders that have been failing his party.


No sir. What you need to do is acknowledge that the Democrats can have honor, decency and morality. Reclaim? Is it something that you just say you are and frame the other guy as a sleazeball so he looks bad. How about producing some leaders with integrity? How about not being so righteous? Can anyone in the GOP acknowledge that you can be moral without having to fall in line with an organized religion? You can be decent without shooting to everyone that you believe in a savior and that you believe in an afterlife?


For me, a democrat who believes in Integrity first, honesty and decency next I think the one thing the Republicans could do to win my support is to do this: Say, 'If Cheney did anything wrong he should be summoned and should testify in front of an impartial bi-partisan, independent committee.'. But if he didn't, he shouldn't be hassled for doing his job.'. How hard would that be? It's the truth. If he did something wrong bring him to justice. If he didn't, well we apologize for the inconvenience.


When the GOP produces a leader who has the balls to make a statement like that, they would be a dangerous threat to the Democrats. They might even get my vote.

Doing the right thing is hard, but important.

Now that Obama is President and the Dems have a majority in Congress many Democrats just want to pass some key legistlation and to keep the economy rolling so Obama will have another 4 years in office. Well sure, that would be nice. But what would a true LEADER do? Someone who is willing to do the right thing regardless of what it means for his or her political future. Someone who is willing to go after the Bush administration for war crimes even if it bogs down the process. If Eric Holder goes after Bush he will be critized by a lot of democrats. Many of the Bush diehards will aslo accuse him of playing politics when we have more important issues at hand. But if there were war crimes committed we have to investigate. If we don't we are hypocrits telling the Iraqies they need a democracy while not holding ourselves accountable for our own actions.

WE HAVE TO WALK THE TALK

...These are not just the philosophical musings of a new attorney general. Holder, 58, may be on the verge of asserting his independence in a profound way. Four knowledgeable sources tell NEWSWEEK that he is now leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices, something the president has been reluctant to do. While no final decision has been made, an announcement could come in a matter of weeks, say these sources, who decline to be identified discussing a sensitive law-enforcement matter. Such a decision would roil the country, would likely plunge Washington into a new round of partisan warfare, and could even imperil Obama's domestic priorities, including health care and energy reform. Holder knows all this, and he has been wrestling with the question for months. "I hope that whatever decision I make would not have a negative impact on the president's agenda," he says. "But that can't be a part of my decision."

Sarah Palin

So the big news is that Sarah Palin is stepping down as Governor by the end of the month. The big question is:WHY?

My belief is that there is no big new controversy that is going to bring her down. There is no new Troopergate that will tarnish her perfect image.

No, I think she is going to go full throttle with a campaign for President in 2012. Three years of Sarah attacking Obama and Congress.

What is obscenity?

This weekend in Boulder is the 'naked bike ride' where a bunch of locals strip down and cruise around town on bikes to draw attention to our dependence on oil. 'More Ass, less gas' is one of their motto's. Unfortunately they have gotten more attention for their nakedness then their cause. There has been story after story about whether or not it is obscene or if they should be ticket as sex offenders for their actions. It is more than stupid. In my mind they have drawn attention away from their real cause by making an issue about whether or not they have the right to protest by riding bikes naked. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate their cause. We are dependant on oil and until everyone realizes this we cannot make any real progress in weening ourselves off of our drug. I guess riding naked is better than yelling at people in hummers, so at least their approach is passive.

What truly kills me is the right wing hate speech shows gets away with what I consider to be a worst crime than being naked in public. They spew hatred on the airwaves. As Frank Rich correctly points out the GOP is in desperate need of someone being moral integrity enough to halt the hate speech of Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly and the like. (This is a GREAT op-ed piece). Take this 'joke' as an example of what the Right wingers listen to: ....She cited a “joke” repeated by a Rush Limbaugh fill-in host, a talk-radio jock from Dallas of all places, about how “any U.S. soldier” who found himself with only two bullets in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden would use both shots to assassinate Pelosi and then strangle Reid and bin Laden.

Seriously police are following around half naked bikers because they are concerned about decency and we have talk show hosts joking about killing Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? What is truly obscene is that the Rush heads don't even realize the hypocrisy of calling their enemies terrorists and then wanting to shoot people. Or shooting an abortion doctor.

Hopefully I was able to keep my hatred for Bush down to a civil dialogue. (I would hate to have been a hypocrite too). I thought (and still think) he should be tried as a murder, but I never suggested (like some of friends have) that he should be harmed in any way for his actions outside of a courtroom. He is a husband, a father and a son. Even putting him in prison for his actions is going to cause pain to the people that love him. Is it fair? Probably. But it is up to a jury and a judge to decide. Not me.

Fool me 3 times shame on... shame on trying.

There are WMDs.
We will be greeted as liberators.
Water boarding gives us important information.
If Cheney was Pinocio his nose would be a weapon of mass destruction.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has come out and admitted Cheney's claims are false.

...WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney's claims -- that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked -- are wrong.

Former VP Dick Cheney has been a vocal defender of Bush-era interrogation techniques.

Levin, speaking at the Foreign Policy Association's annual dinner in New York on Wednesday, said an investigation by his committee into detainee abuse charges over the use of the techniques -- now deemed torture by the Obama administration -- "gives the lie to Mr. Cheney's claims."
The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques."
"I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added....

Bring It Bush and Cheney

There are a lot of people who want Dick Cheney to crawl back down the hole he emerged from after Obama was elected. I for one think he is the best thing for the Democratic party. I want him and George to keep at it. I want them to scream from the top of rooftops "Yes we waterboarded!! We did it because we believed it would make us safer!"

Here is why: Most Americans view waterboarding as torture. Of the people who don't think it is torture and don't think it is wrong.. well they are going to swallow what Bush, Cheney, Rush and O'Reilly feed them. These are not the people we want to join the Democratic Party. These are die hards who see what they want to see and will not listen to an opposing viewpoint, even if it makes sense and is in their best interest. No. We want the swing voters. We want the moderates. We want people who are willing to listen to both sides of the argument and make their decision based on what they think is right. We want people who believe in democracy and use their vote as a way to shape our countries future. These people will see the rhetoric of the Waterboarding argument for what it is: A chance for Bush and Cheney to avoid being tried as war criminals. A chance for them to keep their 'Legacy' from going down the crapper.

So when I see articles like this, I say BRING IT on fellas. Keep up the good work. The longer you keep arguing that torture is in our best interest, the more moderates you are going to lose from your party.

Then when I see articles like this, my heart sinks. Colin Powel has a good shot of building back the Republican Party. I don't want that. I want the Dems to have a chance at reversing the damage Bush inflicted over the last 8 years.

Good Post

This is a good post from the Daily Dish:

17 May 2009 08:35 pm
Obama's Long War Against Cheneyism?

Yes, there's been a lot to think about and assimilate this past week. With Obama, the surface decisions - the tactical maneuvers - can often obscure the direction beneath. Has he betrayed the gays? Has he back-tracked on torture? What's he doing deferring to Gates and Odierno on the torture and abuse photos? Why's he keeping the military commissions - even with far more protections for defendants? How does he justify continuing to detain prisoners who are completely innocent but may have been radicalized by living in the Gitmo torture-and-detention camp? And why pick general McChrystal - a man whose history of successes in the terror war remains in the shadows but whose mistakes (Camp Nama, the Tillman debacle) are much more public and brand him as a Bush-Cheney figure?
I cannot answer these questions definitively and readers know I embrace the model of letting my own thoughts and those of readers and fellow bloggers map out the discussion - back and forth - in real time. But I'm beginning to think that the cooptation of Huntsman, the retention of Gates, the choice of McChrystal, and the refusal to be baited by Cheney into leading a legal prosecution of past war crimes (with the option of following through later if he is forced to) reveals a cunning we miss at our peril.
Take McChrystal. The Dish has tried to air as much as we can find out about him. What's undeniable is the awe with which many in the military treat him, Petraeus' support and Gates' enthusiasm. I'm deeply troubled by the legacy of prisoner abuse - but I'm also deeply impressed with the man's obvious talent, service, determination, patriotism and ruthlessness. It seems to me that a man like McChrystal is indeed a huge asset, if used ethically and intelligently, in a war to defeat al Qaeda. A man who successfully located and killed a monster like Zarqawi is the kind of man we need to find and kill Osama bin Laden. His entanglement in abuse of prisoners places him in the forefront of all that went wrong under Bush and Cheney - but if Obama has unequivocally ended that abuse and McChrystal is idling in the Pentagon, it seems to me a shrewd choice to show that such ruthlessness, if clearly divorced from betrayal of our core values, is what we need.
What Obama understands is that the war on terror is real, that we need to win both ideologically and militarily, and that we have lost a lot of ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I remain worried that this war has become unwinnable, its goals unclear, its rationale more and more an attempt to prevent the unpreventable. But it remains a fact that Obama campaigned to wage war successfully in Afghanistan and Pakistan - and he cannot exactly withdraw precipitously now. Petraeus, an honorable man whose stance on abuse and torture has long been unequivocally on the side of the angels, backs McChrystal. A combination of better Petraeus-style counter-insurgency strategy with McChrystal special ops' targeting of Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan might be the way to advance. It certainty would be an advance on these drone attacks, which apear to be winning battles and losing the war. I don't know, but I'm perfectly prepared to give the president the benefit of the doubt on this, as I did the last one at this juncture. And I think all of us who supported him last fall should - for the current summer military campaign at the very least.
But look forward and see the potential of Obama's offensive against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Af-Pak. Imagine the political and security impact of actual success in that war. Imagine if a president who eschews torture captures Osama bin Laden, or devastates al Qaeda's infrastructure without succumbing to the pathologies of Cheney. Isn't that in the long run the best way to defang the threat that Cheney and Cheneyism pose to this country's future?
I don't believe we can move forward without accounting for the war crimes of the past. With every passing day, the evidence of real criminality in the past accumulates. But I also understand that so long as Cheney and his ship of macho, torturing fools get to posture as the only ruthless prosecutors of the terror war, they will have a card to play to get back into power. They have no shame and no ethical boundaries. And so the only truly profound way to defeat them and what they represent is to show that a humane ruthlessness is still possible in the fight against al Qaeda - which remains a threat rather than a phantom.
With Gates and Huntsman and Petraeus and McChrystal, Obama is coopting the best of the Bush legacy, while separating it from the callow cynicism of the Cheney-Rove-Kristol axis.
Cheney is taking the torture bait from Obama even as Obama refuses brilliantly to take the terror bait from Cheney. Obama is resisting the red-blue reductionism of the past while forging a new and powerful center. And the more Cheney and Kristol and Limbaugh posture as the future of the GOP, the worse they will do and the more likely it is that more sane and sensible conservatives will eventually fight back.
At least that's one reading of recent developments. I may, of course, be wrong or projecting false hopes onto a new president (which wouldn't be the first time). But if I'm rightly understanding this strategy, and it is followed through with care, it's a very potent one. And if Obama can defuse and defang the Dolschstoss right, if he can outflank them on the terror war, if he can both appeal to the world to look at America in a new light, while also pursuing the covert war on terror with more ruthlessness and focus than Bush - then he will not only destroy the Republican rump, he will help heal this country.
In the end, that's what those of us insistent on the torture issue are saying. We want to undercut and undermine Jihadism as we stymie and forestall terror. And we want to retain our soul as a defender of human rights. Cheney's choice is a false one; and history will damn him for presenting it as true. The path of healing will, of course, not be as simple as some of us once hoped. A polity as polluted as this one will take time to recover, but Obama's continued grace and seriousness are arguably the best option we have.
Know hope.
(Photo: the president yesterday. By Mandel Ngan/Getty.)
Permalink :: Trackback (0) :: Sphere It! ::
var et66870849 = "Obama\'s Long War Against Cheneyism? - The Daily Dish By Andrew Sullivan";
Share This

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451c45669e20115708dad54970b
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'Obama's Long War Against Cheneyism?'

Dumb Mistakes

I only think it is fair to call out Obama on his mistakes. Lord knows I called out Bush on most of his.
Biden should not have said this. (Flu gaffe)
Salazar is being a weenie (retaining Bush policy which will kill Polar Bears)
This photo op was just plain (plane) stupid. (Air Force One buzzed NYC for photo)
All of these are stupid mistakes and if these were done by the Bush team I would be all over it saying it is a clear indication that the Administration is out of control. Obama should come out and address the Biden and Photo shot mistakes. He might have told Salazar to retain this policy. I believe we are past the point of avoiding CO2 omissions.